The idea of someone becoming a "celebrity" due to their status on the Internet is something that I find particularly interesting. I researched Forbes List of The Web Celeb 25 and decided to focus on the top two "Web Celebs" for this blog.
At the top of Forbes list we have a woman by the name of Jessica Lee Rose. She shot to online fame with her posts on YouTube under the name of LonelyGirl15. Originally it was thought that she was 16 year old girl name Bree. Later her videos were revealed as scripted, and her true identity of Jessica Rose a 19 year old actress was introduced. Some might wonder why people are still interested in her after she was revealed as a fake, but the answer is simple in America people love a scandal. This is apparent to any person who has ever looked at the cover of a tabloid magazine.
Our nation is fascinated with people and the intimate details of their lives. This leads me directly to the person that landed the second place spot on Forbes’s list, Perez Hilton. His real name is Mario Lavandeira, and he is "famous" for his Celebrity Gossip blog called PerezHitlon.com. I must admit that this was one of the three people I actually recognized when reading Forbes's list. While I do read his blog, and am often amused, I have begun to feel as though our nation cares more about the lives of celebrities then we do about anything else. The number of homeless, jobless individuals in our country right now is at an all time high and yet the biggest headlines we find are about which celebrity just bought another dog, or what celebrities are dating each other.
Not all of the Web Celebs on Forbes's list are famous for the same reasons as Jessica Rose and Perez Hilton; but it’s incredibly shocking that the two most famous online personalities that Forbes could find relate directly to America's fascination with all things celebrity.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
How do we determine Success in the realm of Surveillance?
Surveillance is an interesting subject, and one that I am personally extremely aware. I was raised by a father who worked in the FBI for 30 years, and whom I have had many discussions about this topic. Originally I was a part of those Americans who felt betrayed by out great Nation in its implementation of the Patriot Act in 2001. However, I since have come to appreciate and respect the many positive things it has accomplished.
We live in a world where we are constantly surveying each other, whether it is through Facebook or cameras at a grocery store. We live in a nation where we take our safety and our rights for granted, and often fail to see the bigger picture. Our nation always thinks that for something to be great and succeed that it must be success on all accounts and have a high volume of results. But, in the category of terrorist attacks I think most Americans would agree that preventing even one attack is better than not preventing any at all. Has anyone ever thought that the reason that we do not hear about multiple successes is because the technology prevents terrorists from the communication and activities they need to have access to in order to successfully operate? I appreciate opposing arguments on this subject because I once fell into that category, and also because I believe you cannot truly know an issue unless you understand the different arguments for or against it.
We live in a world where we are constantly surveying each other, whether it is through Facebook or cameras at a grocery store. We live in a nation where we take our safety and our rights for granted, and often fail to see the bigger picture. Our nation always thinks that for something to be great and succeed that it must be success on all accounts and have a high volume of results. But, in the category of terrorist attacks I think most Americans would agree that preventing even one attack is better than not preventing any at all. Has anyone ever thought that the reason that we do not hear about multiple successes is because the technology prevents terrorists from the communication and activities they need to have access to in order to successfully operate? I appreciate opposing arguments on this subject because I once fell into that category, and also because I believe you cannot truly know an issue unless you understand the different arguments for or against it.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Keen vs. Lessiq
Reading Cult of the Amateur the past two weeks has been quite interesting. On my own I was less interested then once we began discussing some of the issues in class. The author Keen argues against Web 2.0 throughout the book while throwing in a few other issues as well. One person Keen uses in attempt to support his argument is Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Stanford. After reading Lessig’s sometimes hard to follow counterpoints I decided to stick with my initial reaction to Cult of the Amateur. Therefore I find Lessig’s arguments against Keen’s book much more convincing.
As I said before I sometimes had a difficult time differentiating between what was fact and what was personal in Lessig’s counterpoints. But I still found that the issues he chose to address were very similar to the original problems I had with Keen’s argument. Particularly Lessig’s counterpoints analyzing “The Expert Fallacy,” as well as “The Amateur Fallacy.” The discussion of experts and people requiring “taste” in order to know what is high or low culture is absolutely ridiculous to me. I do not require someone to determine whether the movie, TV show, or song that I like is good or bad. Also the amateur argument was particularly interesting to me; because while I agree with all of Lessig’s counterpoints this was the one argument that Keen made that resonated with me. I do not agree with anonymity on the internet because of the potential negative consequences that can occur.
As I said before I sometimes had a difficult time differentiating between what was fact and what was personal in Lessig’s counterpoints. But I still found that the issues he chose to address were very similar to the original problems I had with Keen’s argument. Particularly Lessig’s counterpoints analyzing “The Expert Fallacy,” as well as “The Amateur Fallacy.” The discussion of experts and people requiring “taste” in order to know what is high or low culture is absolutely ridiculous to me. I do not require someone to determine whether the movie, TV show, or song that I like is good or bad. Also the amateur argument was particularly interesting to me; because while I agree with all of Lessig’s counterpoints this was the one argument that Keen made that resonated with me. I do not agree with anonymity on the internet because of the potential negative consequences that can occur.
"Amateur" vs. Professional
If I could spend all of my time cooking meals for family and friends I definitely would. I guess that I would consider myself an “amateur” because no matter what I’m always trying a new recipe or buying a new cookbook. I look forward to the holidays when I can contribute to a large home cooked family meal. I have no intention of opening up a restaurant or becoming a chef. The only motivation that I have is the smile and comfort one feels when they eat something that truly tastes amazing.
I think passion is something that is essential to have in your life. Everything that I do cannot always be done according to what I feel passionate about. However, the passion that I have for life and the major that I study everyday is the motivation that I have to get through everything else. It has taken me a long time to find my passion and embrace it, and I feel lucky knowing that some people never will. When I graduate and begin to search for a job I will be able to bring my passion to the table. Having passion for a career shows and makes a difference in the work that one does. That is why for me it is necessary to do something that I love rather then something that may be practical. One day I will be a professional in every sense of the word, but I will also consider myself an amateur because I will love what I do!!
I think passion is something that is essential to have in your life. Everything that I do cannot always be done according to what I feel passionate about. However, the passion that I have for life and the major that I study everyday is the motivation that I have to get through everything else. It has taken me a long time to find my passion and embrace it, and I feel lucky knowing that some people never will. When I graduate and begin to search for a job I will be able to bring my passion to the table. Having passion for a career shows and makes a difference in the work that one does. That is why for me it is necessary to do something that I love rather then something that may be practical. One day I will be a professional in every sense of the word, but I will also consider myself an amateur because I will love what I do!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
